On the Mantle

It was there sitting on the mantel, painted in muted hues of browns, the tattered linen of a poor family huddled together for all to admire. A representation of the Christ child and family that we bring out each year to gaze upon and reminisce about Christmas’s of yesteryears and worry about Christmas, present.

Is it just a symbol, has it become a relic of all the different decorations we bring out and store away when the celebration is over? Will Christmas stay?

These are things I think about in the early morning hours…the time when no one is rushing about…the house is quiet and I’m awake.

I hear the soft whisper of the Holy Spirit…say, “Now that you can hear me come away with me and pray…”

Do you seek out and listen to his still small voice in the horrific, mind boggling, frenzy of the season? Is life so busy that you can’t seem to catch a moments breath to stop and be still and talk to the ones in your life who really matter?

Are you frantically searching for those perfect gifts so that everyone will be thrilled to open on Christmas morning…? Has the season become a hurricane of do this, get that, did you remember to do…do I have enough time to buy and bake and wrap…blah, blah, blah…has all the joy of what’s important become a debt-infecting, rat-race…? When the storm settles and it’s all over will you be crying because you now have a mountain of debt to pay back…?

Where is Christmas?

The Christmas I grew up knowing no longer exists…like the painted figures on the mantel, it’s only a representation of what once was. It’s the new and improved Christmas. There are apps and high-tech fiber trees, store bought candy and toys, toys, toys for all good little girls and boys.

My how the world progresses…and yet…

There is still hunger in the world. There is still poverty and war and incurable disease. I suppose for a little while the “magic” of Christmas makes us forget…but the day after Christmas reality sets in, then, what?

Oh, yes…the New Year, St. Valentine, St. Patrick, Easter and the treadmill continues rolling around and around we go…it has no end…

So, in that case…stop for a moment…listen to the Holy Spirit in the stillness of the morning and listen to him say… “Now that you can hear me, come away with me and pray.”

Remember and think about this when you look at the figures on the mantel…

Luke 2:10-11 King James Version (KJV) And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

~Marla Shaw O’Neill December 23, 2019